2017 Pepperony Week!
by MyShipsinStormySeas
Summary: Here's my contribution to our wonderful ship. They're back together! Please read and hope you like. Rated T cause I'm paranoid. I own nothing.
1. Prompt 1: Touch

Hi everyone!

So I've never posted any of my fanfic online before, but I felt like our Pepperony ship needed some love, plus Spiderman Homecoming brought them back together! So yay! Also I know this is late but... better late then never? Please read!

Rated T cause I'm paranoid

Love this ship. Hope you like!

Prompt 1: Touch

Tony pushed Rhodey away the moment he saw those red eyes and strawberry blond hair. Yeah he was still hurting from three months in a living hell, but Pepper was watching, dammit! He wanted to look strong for her. He didn't let himself think about why.

He kept himself together through the whole interaction. Their banter was still there, and he could tell Pepper was happy to see him. For him, seeing her was like having a breath of fresh air for the first time since he left. They kept themselves at the professional distance of boss and employee. He was glad of that too; if she'd reached out he'd probably have broken down crying there and then. Some dignified homecoming that would have been.

They reached the car, and he opened the door for her, ignoring the startled and puzzled look she gave him at the gesture. She got in and scooted to the far side. He was just getting in after her when he hit his injured arm on the side of the door. The sudden pain surprised him, and next thing he knew he'd fallen on the leather seat: half-in and half-out of the car.

He didn't mind too much though, because his position gave him a first rate view of her very lovely legs.

Pepper exclaimed in surprise and reached down to help him into a sitting position. In the awkward scramble, her hand brushed up against his chest and felt the protruding, circular chest piece behind his suit and tie.

They got themselves situated and Happy started the car, but the entire way to the fast food place, Pepper couldn't stop staring.

At length Pepper asked, "Is that where…"

She trailed off, still staring at his chest, and Tony for once felt himself also at a loss for words.

Almost as if she didn't know what she was doing, Pepper reached out her hand slowly toward the center of his chest.

Her fingertips just brushed the fabric that covered the arc reactor, when Happy called back from the front, "Boss? They're asking if you want pickles on your cheeseburger."

The moment broke, and Pepper pulled away quickly.

Next they knew, they were both caught up in meeting Obadiah and the press conference and the various chaos that followed after that. The subject didn't come up again till he was back in his shop in the basement, when he called up to Pepper to ask the size of her hands… as if he didn't already know.

But Tony could have almost sworn that, during that single moment when her fingers touched the thin fabric of his shirt and met with the tech in his chest, that the reactor whirred to life just a little bit faster.


	2. Prompt 2: Pre-relationship

Prompt 2: Pre-relationship

Pepper was familiar with the word no. It came up often in her profession. It had an accompanying "look" to go with it, specifically an expression she made only for the single most annoying man in the world. The word "no," in fact, came up in almost every conversation with her boss, whether he was sober or no:

"I think we should require everyone in the board meeting to come naked. I think it would help our decision-making if we kept all our _assets_ on the table."

The look came first, followed by a "No."

"But Pepper, stripper bots would be a hugely beneficial investment!"

Pepper didn't even bother to look at him for that one, "No."

"But it's just a giant cliff with a bunch of old ugly men on it Pepper. Think how much more iconic it would be with my face on it. We could call it… Mount Starkmore."

Pepper gave him the look, and then face-palmed when she was met with the utter sincereness in Stark's face "No."

"I want one."

Pepper stares after Ms. Natalie Rushman. She tells herself it's because of the potential, very expensive, _sexual harassment_ lawsuit that she says, "No."

She doesn't have any other, personal motivation for the immediate refusal. None at all.

He's drunk, embarrassing her, and trying to lean in for a kiss. He tells her he loves her. She knows he doesn't mean it. What had she expected? That the playboy of America would want to settle down? Would want… her?

She's telling herself as much as she's telling him, "No."

She finally did it. She finally gave Tony the ultimate refusal. She quit. And the next thing she knows, he's kissing her.

He's _kissing_ her!

And she's kissing him back.

He stops, furrowing his eyebrows in a nervous question.

"Weird?" he asks.

She says it again, though she's really saying yes.

"No."


	3. Prompt 3: FamilyKids

Prompt 3: Family/Kids

This sort of ended up being more of iron man one-shots with pepperony at the end... sorry!

But it still all kinda connects? Please read and enjoy anyway ;)

Pepper was making Tony go spend the morning with babies. Specifically, babies that the Avengers had saved before the whole Winter Soldier debacle, who attended preschools throughout New York City. People kept trying to hand him screaming babies wearing smelly diapers. You'd think people would get the message by now. He doesn't like being handed things.

He'd tried to get out of it, but for some reason, Pepper had been adamant this time. "You're good with kids," she'd said. "It's good to have some non-violent publicity," she'd said. And she'd gone on, talking about babies. Tony had zoned out by that point.

Happy marched up to Tony, not looking his usual happy self. In other words, his face was set with a frown slightly grumpier than usual. Tony sighed into his coffee. Couldn't people leave him alone for one single coffee break between press releases? Was that too much to ask?

It used to be Steve dealt with raising public support for the Avengers. Tony once got a kick out of signing him up with the Department of Education for an entire day of making motivational videos.

They still show them in the high schools. Of course, then Cap had to go and piss off the entire UN and U.S. government, leaving Tony to clean up the mess.

In short, Tony wasn't in the best of moods.

Tony took another look at Happy. He looked determined. That meant Tony was going to have to do something responsible. Again.

Tony glared at his Head of Security, "What?"

Happy glared right back, "Why did you have to go adopting kids for a hobby? Couldn't you have gotten into electric cars or something?"

Tony looked at him like he'd grown two heads or something, "Come again? Did you see the press coverage this morning? I hate kids! Their grabby and smelly and screamy…"

Happy shook his head, "No I'm talking about spiderboy."

Tony raised his eyebrows, "Peter? What's he got into this time?"

Happy rolled his eyes, "He's in Tennessee for some reason. He's in trouble."

Tony groaned, "Tennessee? Why is he-"

Happy interrupted him, "No idea. But he's chasing some bank robbers and disconnected his tracker… and we both remember what happened last time he went off on his own."

Tony heaved himself up with a sigh, getting ready to take the suit off to the middle of nowhere to track down a certain kid superhero with a love for trouble.

Happy shook his head, half chuckling to himself, "Tony and kids… who would've thought?"

Tony yelled back over his shoulder, "I don't like kids!"

When Tony arrived, he could clearly see Happy was right: Peter was in trouble.

Peter had three bank robbers webbed up in the bank, but one had gotten away and run into the crowd that had gathered outside.

Ironman pursued the last bank robber, but stopped when the man yelled out, waving a gun wildly, "You'd best back off Iron Man or you'll have civilian deaths on your hands!"

And with that the criminal grabbed the closest person to him, a young girl wearing a hello kitty watch.

Before anything else could happen, another voice rang out from the crowd, "Let go of my sister!"

Then the bank robber, to everyones surprise, started to be attacked with potatoes thrown at high speed. They came from the crowd. Specifically they came from a potato gun in the hands of a young blond boy. With a particularly well aimed shot, a potato knocked the gun right out of the bank robber's hand.

Spiderman showed up just then, tackled the bank robber, and webbed him up nicely. The crowd backed away from the boy with the potato gun. Tony turned his head to see, out of all the people in Tennessee: Harley

The owner of the potato gun then yelled out, "Woah it's Spiderman! You're so cool!"

Then he turned to Tony before he had a chance to say anything, "Wait Tony you know Spiderman? See I knew we had a connection but I didn't know you just hang out with kids all the time. Doesn't your girlfriend ever ask you to hang out with, like, actual adults?"

Harley then turned back to Peter, "So knowing Tony, he gave you cool stuff. He gave me this potato gun and lots of cool engineering gear. What he get you?"

Peter looked at Harley, then at Tony, then back at Harley, "Um… well he actually made my suit…"

Harley grinned, "Nice. I don't know why but Tony just has this connection with kids."

Tony finally got a word in edgewise, "I don't like kids!"

Harley's little sister walked up at that point. She gazed up at Tony with wide eyes, "Woah! It's Iron Man! He's the coolest superhero!"

Tony crouched down to look at her… silent.

Then he muttered, "Okay… maybe I just like her."

That night, Tony made his complaints known to whoever was around to hear them. That ended up being his long-suffering girlfriend, unfortunately for Pepper.

"I don't like kids!" Tony announced, not waiting for a response to the out-of-the-blue comment.

"They're needy, and whiny, and annoying, and have attitude problems…"

"Tony," Pepper interrupted.

"…and they never listen to a word I say," Tony went on.

"Tony!" Pepper almost screamed at him.

Tony stopped, turning. He looked her over.

"What is it?" he asked, "You look serious. Are you feeling okay? Do you need to take some time off from the company? I've been telling you not to push yourself so hard-"

"Tony!" Pepper yelled.

Tony stopped again, looking startled, "What?"

Pepper sighed, "I'm fine. Actually, I'm better than fine. Actually…"

She paused.

Tony looked at her, eyebrows raised, waiting.

Pepper looked nervously at him, "Um. I'm pregnant."

Tony stared at her expressionless. Then he blinked.

"Sorry, could you repeat that? I thought you said you were pregnant."

Pepper closed her eyes for a second, and breathed, "That's what I said."

She opened her eyes again, looking into his eyes, "I'm pregnant."

Slowly, Tony's jaw and eyes opened wider… and wider.

"You're…"

Then he grinned. Then he laughed. Then he kissed his girlfriend.

When they stopped for breath. He twirled her around.

Tony looked at Pepper, eyes as happy and bright as a child's at Christmas. This was truly the best thing that had ever happened to him.

"We're having a KID!"


	4. Prompt 4: QuotesLyrics

From the song at the beginning of Iron Man 3

"Blue (Da Ba Dee)"

Eiffel 65

"Yo listen up here's a story

about a little guy that lives in a blue world,

And all day and all night and everything he sees is just blue like him, inside and outside

blue."

In Afghanistan everything's gray, black and brown. The clothes, the dirt, the weapons… There's nothing light in that pit of drab colors. So he builds an arc reactor that glows blue in the darkness, and lights the place up.

When he gets home, he builds a suit that's more to his taste. He chooses colors that represent him. Not one to hide from the spotlight, he chooses red and gold. This is him. Or, at least…. this is the him that he shows to the world.

The suit is still being painted when he goes to a party, wanting to let off some steam. He meets a strawberry-blond goddess he scarcely recognizes. She wears a vibrant, jewel-toned, low-backed, blue dress, and he doesn't think he's every seen anything more beautiful.

He can't breathe. He looks down. The world is stopped; it cannot continue. The moment is frozen in fire. She fell. He couldn't catch her. The flames glitter mockingly; swathes of bright light flicker up at him. They are the flames that took her away from him. It occurs to him, as he stares at the fire below, that it glows in shades of red and gold. He's never hated two colors so much before.

Time stills when he looks into her eyes.

Those eyes take his breath away. Those eyes are there to greet him when he arrives home with Rhodey, a changed man. Those eyes are there to smirk at him when he says something inappropriate. Those eyes are there to worry over him when he does something reckless. Those eyes were gone when he watched his parents die and when his friends betrayed him. Those eyes are always there for him to turn to: for reassurance, for comfort, for love.

She found proof of his heart in a glowing blue reactor that kept him alive in a desert.

He finds proof every time he looks into her blue eyes.

P.S. I don't know what color Gwyneth Paltrow's eyes really are or if she wears contact lenses but in most shots of Pepper to me it looks like she has blue eyes :)


	5. Prompt 5: Post-Civil War

Prompt 5: Post-Civil War

So I originally wrote this for Day 1: Touch, but then I saw that Day 5 was post-Civil War so... yep. Hope you like!

Tony shuddered... and gave up. His arms in the suit, powered by a flickering power source, fell to his sides. He couldn't fight anymore. He didn't have the strength. He watched Cap walk away to the murderer who killed his mom.

Cap reached down, extending a hand to Bucky. With one hand Cap lifted Bucky Barnes to his feet, and with the other he held the shield Tony's father had made. The shield Tony's father's hands had touched. Cap's hands didn't deserve to touch that creation of his father's. He told him so.

He lay shuddering on the cold floor, staring at the shield. When did everything start to go to hell? He was a mechanic; he was good at fixing things. Why did everything he touch fall apart?

It was like a curse. Everything he touched crumbled before his eyes.

Later, his hands reached out to catch Rhodey, as he learned to walk again. He couldn't even do that right, and Rhodey fell.

He sometimes wondered if the real reason Pepper left was because she remembered that when it came down to it, she couldn't trust him to catch her.

That night, he woke up screaming, hands scrabbling at the memory of an arc reactor in his chest. Breaths shuddered out from his lungs. In his dreams terrorists in Afghanistan had used a titanium shield to shatter the very thing that kept him alive. He breathed, and blinked. He was alone.

He lay on his specialty mattress clutching soft designer sheets, but he couldn't feel a thing. His parents... Yinsin... Cap... even Pepper. They all left him in the end. He felt numb.

The soft click of a latch made him jump. Slowly, the door opened, letting in a gradually widening stream of light from the brightly lit hallway beyond the door. The light was blocked by a tall, slender figure. He knew that outline.

So... he was still dreaming?

"Tony?" came the voice.

He didn't reply, but only stared at the beautiful woman standing in his doorway. He feared if he spoke that the dream would shatter.

"Tony," the voice repeated softly, a hesitant pause following the call. The silence hung between them like a curtain distancing them.

Pepper squared her shoulders, breathing in. She began to talk fast, the way she did when she was worried, or stressed, or dealing with anything that had to do with Tony really...

"I know you're ok because I looked at the medical records and they promised me that you were ok I mean I know you're not ok but like you're not dying again or anything but all I could think about was how the shield cracked the reactor and if you hadn't had the surgery or if you'd never come back from Siberia and I know we're not ok but I just needed to see you and oh Tony!"

Pepper stopped, breathing hard, unable to speak more without a reprieve, and she looked at Tony with tears in her eyes. Tony was sitting up now, looking back at her with a soft look in his eyes.

It occurred to him that she always brought the softness back into his life... in the times when everything around him was sharp and shattered and broken.

He smiled a little, "Hey Pep."

He held out an arm to her side of the bed, indicating that she should join him, and she fell down next to him, shuddering as she cried into his shoulder, running her hands over him. She needed to make sure; she needed to touch him to know he was really there, alive and whole.

He held her close, and breathed her in. He might have also cried a few tears.

Pep's breathing slowed, and came in time with his, and he could feel himself go still, finally at peace with his surroundings.

They hadn't solved all their problems, but as long as she was here... As long as he could see her, smell her, feel her..

His world became a little bit fixed.


	6. Prompt 6: AU

I'm back! A little late... sorry. Thank you everyone for your amazing reviews and favoriting and general choice to view and read my oneshots! It's so nice to know someone's out there enjoying them!

So... this ended up being way longer than I expected... Sorry not sorry? Hope you enjoy.

Prompt 6: AU

Virginia Potts stepped into her tiny apartment and let out a long sigh. She flicked on the light-switch, grabbed a glass from the cupboard above her broken dishwasher, and sat down on the worn green couch. With one hand she reached into the shopping bag she'd dropped by her side and pulled out a bottle of tequila. With the other, she reached for the remote to turn on some mind-numbing television to just let her forget her life for a while.

Then, the power went out.

Well. A very Happy Shit Birthday to her.

She groaned, letting her head fall back to rest on the back of the couch behind her. She was only twenty-two, she hadn't even been able to legally drink till a year ago! How had her life already managed to turn into such a depressing mess?

It wasn't as if she didn't have anything to be grateful for. Her mom's surgery had gone better than anyone had expected: the doctors managed to get the whole tumor out! It was the best birthday gift she could have hoped for. But now that things had been given time to settle; the other repercussions of her mother's worsening condition over the last year began to hit her.

-line break-

They'd been doing so well; her mother had been going to chemo, and while it exhausted her, the doctors appeared hopeful. As a distraction, Virginia had thrown herself into her college work, and had been top of her class, set to graduate with a double major of business and accounting. She'd been accepted for a paid internship at Stark industries, and there was talk of it turning into a real job in the future if she did well.

But then her mother got worse, and Virginia dropped out to take care of her. The chemo stopped having any real affect, and the doctors gave her six months at best. Virginia was desperate. Her mother was the only family she had left.

After talking with the doctors and researching, they decided, as a last resort, to try a risky, new surgery, with a 40% rate of success. The costs for the surgery were well beyond their means, but Virginia could care less about her credit score at this point. The surgery had been showing greater success for the past few years, and it was her mother's last chance.

She was sitting at her mother's bedside when the monitor tracking her mother's heartbeat sped up a little, and her mother's eyes fluttered one.

Virginia let out a slightly choked, grateful sob, and blinked away tears.

Mrs. Potts blinked, licked her lips, swallowed, and observed the room and her daughter, moving only her eyes.

"Hm," she said.

Virginia raised her eyebrows questioningly.

""Well… looks like I'm not dead."

Virginia looked at her mother's inscrutable expression, and nodded seriously.

They made it about three more seconds before they both disintegrated into uncontrollable giggles and a thankful, tearful hug.

"They got the tumor out mom," Virginia told her, "They got it all!"

Her cheeks hurt, but she couldn't stop smiling. Her mom was going to be okay.

-line break-

As exuberant as the two Potts ladies felt over the successful surgery, unfortunately that didn't mean all their problems disappeared. Virginia managed to scrape just enough credits together to graduate as an accounting major, but she was broke, had a credit score beyond redemption, and all the medical bills for the surgery and other care still needed to be paid. To make things worse, Stark Industries took back their offer of the internship, stating that their agreement had been that she would graduate with both a business and accounting degree with a much higher GPA than she did. She tried to apply for extenuating circumstances, getting as high as the secretary of some executive named Obadiah Stane, but then they shut her down.

In short, she may be turning twenty-two, but Virginia Potts sure didn't feel like celebrating it.

Taking a deep breath, Potts opened her eyes and began looking for a flashlight to use until the lights came back on. She was never one to wallow in self-pity, and when it came down to it, all these struggles were worth it: her mom was alive!

Sighing, she picked up some newspaper clippings she'd picked out with possible accounting positions she could apply to. It had been a dream of hers to work at the legendary Stark Industries, but that dream just wasn't meant to be, and she needed to find a job fast.

There was some start-up called Hammer Industries looking for employees with accounting experience. She might as well start there.

-line break-

Virginia really hated her boss. He was ignorant, self-satisfied, and would not stop looking at her ass. But, Virginia had to admit, Justin Hammer also had drive and an idea of where he wanted the company to go. And he was determined to be a public success. She'd quickly risen to the top in their small corporate ladder, and she usually managed to balance Hammer's more outlandish ideas by taking care of the financial and logistical side of things. They made it work anyway. It wasn't long before Hammer appointed her to the position of CFO.

If Hammer got too flirtatious, she could just turn the conversation back to talking about him. Justin loved talking about himself.

Hammer did seem to get more frustrated and harder to work with the more she turned him down, though. Recently, however, he seemed to be turning his attentions to Janet Spencer from accounting, who was quickly rising through the ranks, though not, Virginia guessed, for her ability to read spreadsheets.

For Pepper, the worst times were when Hammer Industries needed more funding. That always meant looking for investors. Specifically, it meant going to parties with Hammer to mingle with aforementioned investors, and dealing with Justin's drunk, awful flirting.

Most of the time, these parties were boring: all politics and a lot of talk about how wonderful the party was while no one really enjoyed it. But occasionally, the odd politician or other famous figure would show up to, if nothing else, provide the magazines with something to gossip about for the rest of the year.

It was at one of these parties that Virginia had an encounter she was likely to remember for the rest of her life.

-line break-

The event was an annual charity event funded by none other than their famous competitor: Tony Stark of Stark Industries. Of course, even after all the news of his miraculous return from his mysterious disappearance to Afghanistan, nobody expected the man himself to attend. Word was he was suffering a psychotic break behind closed doors.

However, Virginia, who made it a point to find out everything she could about the main company they competed with, including the CEO himself, wasn't so sure. While Tony Stark did have his eccentricities, he was a genius: one that had an uncanny ability to pull off the impossible while appearing to put in no effort at all. If Tony Stark set his mind to something, it usually got done. And he hadn't looked psychotic to her when he talked about redirecting his company, no matter how crazy of an idea it was. Personally, Virginia hoped he succeeded; it would be less competition for Hammer Industries.

Potts saw Hammer at the bar, chatting up a blond reporter from Vanity Fair… Christine Ever-something. She quickly turned the other direction, but was stopped when her boss called out to her.

"Ginny! There you are! Come get a drink. Maybe some wine? I've just been telling Ms. Everheart here how business is picking up, now that Stark's backing out."

Virginia gritted her teeth. She hated that nickname more than anything. But, she saw several of their investors looking over curiously, and she didn't want to cause a scene.

She walked cooly over, looking down at her very drunk boss from her five inch heels.

Christine greeted her, seemingly relieved to no longer be alone with Justin, and the two of them sipped at their drinks for a couple minutes, speculating on whether or not Stark Industries was heading down the drain.

Hammer spent most of the time staring at Virginia's ass.

But then Ms. Everheart said something unexpected, "So Justin here mentioned that you might step down from your position now that Hammer Industries is growing, and work more directly with him, possibly as a personal assistant when Stark Industries leaves the market open.

Hammer choked on his drink, and Virginia felt herself flush with anger.

"Excuse me?"

So much for not making a scene.

"Ginny-" Justin began, but Virginia interrupted him.

"It's Virginia. Or actually you know what? It's Ms. Potts. And you think you can demote me? Replace _me_? This company would be barely surviving if it weren't for me. What are you thinking?"

Hammer, clearly inebriated, appeared annoyed, but struggled to put together an appropriate answer, "As CFO, you should be behind my decisions as the leader of this company. You're always undermining me, never willing to get your hands dirty…"

"I get behind sound business decisions that are legal and won't come back to bite you in the ass with a dozen lawsuits! And you were stupid enough to talk about it to a reporter before taking action? And who were you going to replace me with? Janet Spencer maybe? Well let me tell you Justin, Janet doesn't know the first thing about Hammer Industries, and if you make her CFO she will pour all our profits down the drain. I think we both know this has nothing to do with my decisions on _business_."

Justin waved a finger at her unsteadily, but seemed unable to come up with a coherent answer.

Ms. Potts was on a roll now, and she kept on talking, "This better be the alcohol talking, Justin Hammer! You'd better remember I've been with you from the start! I can and _will_ ruin you if you even think about firing me without just cause. Sleep with whoever you like, but you better think twice before you even consider threatening my position in the company!"

And with that, fists clenched and cheeks red, she stormed out of the room and went to stand outside on the adjacent balcony, breathing hard.

"Well, that was… spicy"

Virginia turned, startled, at the sound of the voice. She'd thought she was alone.

Looking to her right, she saw a man in an Armani suit leaning against the wall of the building, facing out toward the view of city spread out below them. The man stared back at her under a head of tousled dark curls, dark eyes bright and amused.

Wait a minute, she knew this man from somewhere…

The man pushed himself off the wall, a slight grin on his face, "I only caught the last bit of that, but I admire a woman with a bit of fire."

Ms. Potts arched an eyebrow, unimpressed.

The man stepped closer, "Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries. And you are?"

Oh. No. No way. Virginia had had enough of rich, spoiled, drunk CEOs/weapon designers to last her a lifetime. She'd had quite enough tonight without warding off the advances of Playboy of the Year, thank you very much.

She turned to go back indoors, but his words stopped her.

"Might not want to head back in just yet. People would talk. Anyway, it would ruin your dramatic exit."

She whirled around irritated by the condescending smirk on his face.

"And since when did the famous Tony Stark care about making a scene? Shouldn't the host of the party be inside hoarding the spotlight and making rash statements to the press?"

Mr. Stark seemed slightly startled by the comment, but did his best to shrug it off with an uneasy laugh, "Wouldn't be shocking if I did it every time. Got to keep them on their toes."

Virginia narrowed her eyes, her curiosity caught by the figure in front of her, her own problems fading to the back of her mind. This man didn't fit the larger-than-life presence she'd seen in press-conferences or occasionally seen at events from across the room. The Tony Stark she was aware of cared only for having a good time, always had at least one girl on his arm, and above all, always had a drink in his hand. It was strange to the see the man appear almost…subdued.

Virginia offered him a dry smile, "That's not your usual habit. Don't tell me a trip to the Middle East took the party out of the billionaire playboy of America."

Mr. Stark gave a huff of a laugh, but not before something darker showed in his gaze, "Yeah, just wasn't feeling in the mood… I guess. Three months in captivity can make the party scene feel a little overwhelming."

Ms. Potts started, surprised by the comment and his honesty. Well, who knew even the great Tony Stark could be as human as the rest of us.

The next second though, she was startled from her thoughts by realizing that Mr. Stark had stepped in closer to her, and was leaning to whisper something into her ear, "Though I've got to admit the sight of you is more than enough to change my mind. Don't suppose you'd be interested in a more private party… say at my place?"

Virginia closed her eyes and breathed. This was a bad idea. She'd be literally getting into bed with her greatest competitor. She knew better than to mix business with pleasure. Then again, after what Justin told Christine…

"How about you get me a drink first?"

Tony Stark's lips curved into a triumphant grin, "Whatever the lady desires."

Virginia spoke quickly before she changed her mind, "I'd like a vodka martini, please. Dry. With olives. A lot of olives. Like at least three olives."

Stark nodded and headed indoors toward the bar. Just as he was about to exit the balcony, he turned back, "You never told me your name."

Virginia certainly didn't need complicated right then, and if she gave him her name he might recognize it, and that would most certainly make things complicated, "Is my name really what you should be concerned about right now?"

Stark gave her another of his confident, cheshire grins, "Ooh peppery, I like it."

Then he went off to get that vodka martini, only to be sidelined by a certain Christine Everheart, holding pictures of the destroyed town of Gulmira.

Virginia meanwhile, eventually gave up on Stark coming back to the rooftop, and went home. The next morning, she found Justin Hammer and knocked some sense into him. Sober, he knew better than to try and fire the best CFO he could possibly hope for, whether she would sleep with him or not.

After Gulmira, though, Tony's mind wandered back to the redhead from the balcony, or "Pepper" as he named her in his head. Jarvis made quick work of finding the true identity of the woman who had yelled at Justin Hammer over her position in his company. Soon he knew all there was to know about a certain Virginia Potts, who funnily enough, had come very close to spending her career at Stark Industries, instead of Hammer Industries.

"Virginia," he muttered. "I certainly can't call you that. That's a horrible name."

Then he called Dummy to come clean up the mess in the workshop, smiling to himself.

The thought had occurred to him, that if Stane wasn't getting on board with his new direction, he'd eventually need a new CFO. He thinks that maybe, he might have found just the woman for the job.


	7. Prompt 7: Free Day

Hey everyone! Pepperony week has come to end ;( so sad. Thank you to everyone for your lovely responses to my one shots! If you haven't already and you've liked these, please review! It's just so nice to know that people like it!

So in our ending of Pepperony week, I thought I'd go back to the beginning

Inspired by the famous quotes:

"Will that be all Mr. Stark?

That will be all Ms. Potts."

Prompt 7: Free Day

Everyone said she wouldn't make it a week.

Just for that, she'd made a personal pact with herself to last a month.

People really should know better by now than to underestimate a certain Ms. Virginia Potts.

And now that she'd lasted a month, proved them all wrong, and received a very satisfying paycheck, she was beyond ecstatic:

She could finally, _finally_ quit.

Happy dropped her off at the mansion, and very thoughtfully opened the door for her, "Heard it was your last day, Ms. Potts. Gotta say we're gonna miss you around here. I know I'll miss having the first competent help I've ever had. You're leaving me in the lurch here you know; we were just gaining traction in the mission to make Tony act like a slightly respectable CEO."

Pepper just shook her head modestly, and made promises to keep in touch. She genuinely liked Hogan, he'd become something of a brother-in-arms in the struggles and trials that were working for Tony Stark.

She didn't spend long though, and quickly turned to go into the house and head down to the workshop to meet her soon to be former employer.

Ms. Potts was in rare form that morning. Her hair was up and she was wearing her favorite black heels. She'd chosen an elegant but professional blouse and skirt, and felt ready to handle anything. One more day and she'd be done with corralling an always drunk or hungover boss. There'd be no more cleaning up after one night stands, no more dealing with the press to smooth over the latest scandal Tony had been responsible for, and no more judging looks that people gave when they realized that the highly qualified business woman was in fact, "only a personal assistant."

She greeted Jarvis cheerfully, headed down the stairs with clipboard in hand, and opened her mouth to say the words she'd been waiting to say all month.

"Mr. Stark-"

But then, she paused.

Tony looked up at her from the project he was working on, cocking his head questioningly at her when she failed to continue.

"Yes?"

There was a half empty glass of scotch on the table, and she could tell her boss was hungover from his binge the night before. She opened her mouth to make the resignation official.

What came out was, "There's a board meeting at 9:00, we're leaving at 8:30 and I have the suit you'll be wearing in the left side of your closet pressed and ready. Get a breath mint and some Tylenol Mr. Stark because you are not missing this meeting."

With that she turned around and headed back up the stairs as quickly as she'd come down them, stopping at the top to take a breath.

Well. That hadn't gone exactly as planned.

It was just… she hadn't felt this alive and engaged with her job in ages. She hated being bored, and if there was one thing Tony could always be relied on for, it was a challenge. The pay was nothing to sneeze at either.

And if she was honest, she was struggling with an image that had entered her head the moment she'd walked down those stairs.

It was a picture of her boss with those big brown eyes and charismatic grin, working on his projects, but without her to pick out his suits and organize his life. Instead, there'd be some other woman, probably one who could care less about his meetings and who just wanted to get into bed with him. That had been the story she'd heard of every other P.A. he'd ever had. The truth was, he needed her.

Though she'd never admit it, a hidden, very human part of her thought that it was nice to be needed.

Besides, she could always quit tomorrow.

—line break—

This became something of a holding pattern for some time. Ms. Potts would arrive in the morning, fresh and ready for anything, and always went to bed with the thought that she could always quit the next day if she wanted to.

Tony was an ass, but also had rare moments of cooperation that Potts always took full advantage of, not to mention many moments of brilliance when it came to his inventions. Pepper's negotiations with her boss were always a bit of a give and take, but together they made sure he met the absolutely necessary responsibilities. Soon the employees of Stark Industries began to talk with admiration about the famous Ms. Potts, said to be responsible in no small part for the rise in profits over the last year.

However, about five months after the date Ms. Potts had planned to quit, something changed.

The day started like any other day: Pepper drove down to the Malibu Mansion, said good morning to Jarvis, and headed down to the workshop, complete with pencil skirt and heels. She was in a hurry to get this morning started. An important deal with one of their main investors, the Burns Foundation, was going down today, and she was hoping to take a lunch to herself. Her old college boyfriend was in town for the day, and as much as she knew it was a bad idea, she'd agreed to meet him for lunch to "reconnect." She guessed he was hoping the lunch would turn into something more, and truly, she kind of did too. Her job didn't allow much time for dating or socializing, and she was starting to miss being around people who weren't caught up in the crazy world that revolved around Tony Stark. She was starting to feel a bit lonely.

She hurried down the stairs… only to find the workshop empty.

Pepper frowned. Tony was generally a creature of habit when it came to mornings. He was a bit of an insomniac, not to mention he always made a point of avoiding whoever he'd brought home the night before by hiding out in his workshop. It was odd not finding him in there.

"Jarvis, where is Mr. Stark?" Pepper inquired.

According to the data I'm receiving from his phone, Mr. Stark is currently at 379 10th St., Santa Monica, California.

"What! What is he doing there? You told me he'd arrived home early at 10pm last night!"

"My apologies Ms. Potts. Mr. Stark told me not to inform you when he decided to head out again at 10:37pm yesterday night. There was apparently a rather wild party in Santa Monica that a Ms. Cindy Clark invited Mr. Stark to attend."

"Cindy Clark! Tony knows that she's Jeffrey Burns niece! Now we'll never get the funding for the new missile launch! Oh he knows how many problems this is gonna cause! It's probably why he decided to go in the first place; dang him! And what is he _still_ doing there?"

"Judging from the fact that he hasn't moved for the past six hours, my hypothesis would be that he is still recovering after imbibing the great many of alcoholic beverages registered on his credit card," Jarvis replied.

"I guessed that much Jarvis! I'm just asking how he has the nerve to mess up the deal with Burns that I spent a month negotiating, but not even have the balls to come back and face me in the morning!"

Without waiting for an answer, Pepper whirled around, headed back to her car, and pressed down the gas to start the long drive down to Santa Monica. The longer she was stuck in traffic, and the more rude California commuter drivers she encountered, the angrier she got.

After about an hour, she reached the address Jarvis had found, parking on the side of the street.

Slamming the car door after her, she marched up to the still very drunk man with a half undone tie, still holding a bottle of some strong-smelling liquor. His security detail stood a little to the side in the shade, looking on impassively through their dark sunglasses, though they must have been sweating in their dark suits.

"Pepper!" Tony greeted her with a wave of the liquor bottle, "Come to join the party?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Name's Virginia Potts, Mr. Stark. Now are you going to walk to the car or do I need to get someone to carry you?"

Tony shook his head from side to side, "Car. Moving. Nope. I'm good here. Why don't you sit down and have a drink? It's no fun being the only one. Actually why don't we all sit?"

He proceeded to wave a hand at his security detail, indicating that they should sit on the sidewalk.

Pepper gave them a terse, "Stay standing, please gentlemen," before turning back to Tony, fuming.

Tony Stark, you'd better get in the car right now and get yourself together, or we will lose funding from the Burns Foundation. After all the time I've spent this month planning and negotiating to get the funding for your pet project, the least you can do is show up!"'

Stark whined and grumbled, but eventually Pepper bundled him back into the car. Quickly they were on their way back to Malibu and his private jet, ready and waiting to take him to L.A.

Pepper drove into the drive for the Malibu Mansion at high speed, only stopping at the last minute. She unlocked the doors, and corralled a distracted, now-starting-to-feel-hungover Tony, into the house for a shower and change of clothes.

After waiting fifteen minutes she called up, "Tony? Are you done up there? We need to get to the plane in twenty minutes!"

At that moment Tony entered the room unhurriedly, looking much better than he had the first time she saw him that morning.

"Hasty, hasty Ms. Potts. In such a hurry to get rid of me today! What's the rush? Didn't anyone ever tell you to slow down and enjoy life? You know, smell the flowers, seize the day and all that? Go too fast and you'll miss out on some _stimulating_ opportunities down the line," he said, raising his eyebrows meaningfully at her.

Pepper glanced at him distractedly, "I will enjoy life once you get on the plane to L.A. and leave me in peace to have lunch with an old friend for once."

Tony clapped his hands, "Hah! Knew you were in a hurry to get rid of me Potts. Making plans in the middle of the work day hm? 'Fraid they're not going to work out though."

Pepper arched an eyebrow, "And why won't they?"

Tony looked at his watch, "Because on the way back from Santa Monica I emailed Mr. Burns and invited him down for a lunch meeting that he'll be arriving for in 3..2…"

Jarvis spoke up, "There's a Mr. Burns and his personal assistant at the gate for you, Sir. Lunch for four has been prepared in the kitchen. Shall I let Mr. Burns' car through?"

Pepper grew red in the face, but she found herself without a chance to respond, as Mr. Burns' car was already pulling up in front of the house.

She sat through the meeting, smiling politely outwardly, but screaming at Tony inwardly. She didn't say much, having ironed out most of the details with Mr. Burns beforehand. She really didn't need to be there. She had originally set this meeting up as a chance to have both men sign the final papers more than anything else. To Pepper's relief, nothing came up about a certain Cindy Clark, niece of Jeffrey Burns. Tony turned up the charm, and the deal was quickly settled.

Mr. Burns went on his way, and Pepper began to head out the door, wondering if she could still catch her lunch date before he got back on his plane. She was in a hurry to get out of there; if she stayed around Tony much longer with the way he'd been today, she really thought she might strangle him.

"Wait Pepper, where are you going?"

Potts closed her eyes and breathed.

"It's Virginia. Virginia Potts. And I'm going to go have the couple of hours off that I've been planning for weeks that you completely ignored and probably messed up already!"

Unfortunately, Tony didn't appear to have heard a word, "Whatever it is can wait. Like I've been saying, it's important to seize the day and all that. We need to stop and have some fun. I'm thinking we should celebrate our victory with the Burns Foundation. Invite the right people over and tell the press… it'll be good P.R. Plus I want to loosen up after doing some actual CEO work for a change. Set it up Peps; you know what to do."

Ms. Potts felt the blood rush to her head.

Oh! That. Was. It.

"Tony Stark! You better listen up right now!"

Tony looked up, startled, "What I say?"

"What did you say? What haven't you said? Does the self-absorbed jackass ever stop talking?

Tony began to look a little angry, but mostly just looked startled, "Hey, Pepper-"

"It's Virginia Potts! Never once have you cared how I felt about a nickname! But why should that surprise me? After all when does the great Tony Stark care about anyone besides himself?"

Stark's eyes narrowed, "Potts, what's going on?"

Pepper glared, "What's going on is that I have had enough! I've had enough of covering your ass and doing almost a majority of your work without so much as a thank you! I've had enough of dragging my drunk boss all over the place with him fighting me every step of the way. I've had enough of you always calling me right when I get a minute to relax to come clean up the latest mess you made!"

Stark took a step toward her, clearly angry, fists clenched, "So you've had enough? Fine! Why are you still here? If I'm so terrible to work for, why have you stayed all these months? Everyone knows you were planning on quitting months ago; I'm tired of waiting for you to decide when you're gonna go! If you're gonna leave, just leave!"

It was Pepper's turn to look startled, "Tony…"

"What, you not sure that I could deal with it? Trust me, I'm a pro at this. Everyone leaves at some point. Learned that lesson five years from yesterday. Parents die; shit happens. Just go already!"

Pepper's eyes widened with a realization, "Your parents.. so that's why you stayed out all night."

Tony turned away, "Yeah… well. It's not my favorite time of year"

Pepper took a step after him, "Tony."

Tony sighed tiredly, "What, Potts? What do you want from me? You don't have to set up anything. You can just go. Do you want me to fire you? Is that what you want me to do?"

Pepper took another step forward, "Tony."

Tony kept facing the stairway down to the workshop, and closed his eyes, "What? What is it Potts? What do you need from me? Just get on with it-"

Tony stopped in the middle of what he was saying, looking down, eyes wide. Virginia Potts, ice queen on stilettos, was hugging him, tight.

"Tony," Pepper said again, "I'm here to stay, okay? As long as you need me, I'll be here."

Tony blinked, quite a few times. Nobody had ever said something like that to him before. He might have got something in his eyes that made them water a little bit. Wasn't tears. Starks didn't cry.

At length Pepper said, "Just maybe try and help me out when I'm trying to stop your company from going bankrupt okay?"

Tony nodded jerkily. Then he cleared his throat, twice.

"Need a little room to breathe, Potts."

Pepper let him go, and looked into his eyes with a small smile.

"Now, I think I'm going to take the afternoon off Mr. Stark, but I'll be back tomorrow, bright and early. I'll drag you to that board meeting kicking and screaming if I have to, so be ready."

Tony cleared his throat again, then nodded, feeling a smile begin to grow, "Looking forward to it, Pepper."

"Tony! It's _Virginia_!"

Tony grinned sheepishly, raising his arms as if to say, "What can you do?"

"'Fraid the name's already second nature Potts. I don't know that we're gonna be able to get around that one."

Pepper huffed, but felt her frown soften in the face of that terribly infectious smirk of his.

In the end, she gave up trying to be mad at him. She sighed, and just shook her head with a small smile.

"Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

Tony grinned back, a new softness Pepper had never seen before in his gaze.

He held the door open as she exited the workshop, "That will be all, Ms. Potts."

For the first time that night, Pepper went to bed thinking that, for a good while at least, she planned to stick around.


End file.
